Percussion musical instrument

ABSTRACT

A percussion musical instrument particularly involves three linearly arranged middle, right and left rods each connected to an adjacent rod by a turnbuckle in a manner to allow the space therebetween to be extended, and two bell cranks pivotally connected to said right and left rods respectively and supporting a crossbar for damping the vibrations of tone bars. The horizontal movement of said middle rod causes said crossbar to be moved to and away from said tone bars by the media of said right and left rods and bell cranks. The adjustment of said turnbuckles controls the magnitude of force with which the right and left portions of said crossbar attach themselves to the tone bars.

United States Patent PERCUSSION MUSICAL INSTRUMENT 4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figs.

U.S. (I 84/403 Int. Cl. 610d 13/08 Field of Search 84/402, 403, 404

Primary ExaminerRichard B. Wilkinson Assistant ExaminerLawrence R. Franklin Attorney-George B. Oujevolk ABSTRACT: A percussion musical instrument particularly involves three linearly arranged middle, right and left rods each connected to an adjacent rod by a turnbuckle in a manner to allow the space therebetween to be extended, and two bell cranks pivotally connected to said right and left rods respectively and supporting a crossbar for damping the vibrations of tone bars. The horizontal movement of said middle rod causes said crossbar to be moved to and away from said tone bars by the media of said right and left rods and bell cranks. The adjustment of said turnbuckles controls the magnitude of force with which the right and left portions of said crossbar attach themselves to the tone bars.

PERCUSSION MUSICAL INSTRUMENT BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION the tone bars associated with the bass tone region to apply to said tone bars a greater magnitude of force than is used with the tone bars associated with the treble tone region. Furthermore, in the specified performance, it is desired previously to set the crossbar in a manner to suppress the reverberation of the tone bars all over the treble to bass tone regions in a desired balance.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of this invention is to provide a percussion musical instrument wherein the reverberation of the tone bars is suppressed with the prescribed magnitude of force caused by urging a crossbar in a manner to be distributed all over the treble to bass tone regions at the rates which progressively vary to a desirable extent in accordance with the order in which the tone bars are arranged.

In order to attain such technical effects, the percussion musical instrument of the present invention wherein there are provided a base, a plurality of tone bars supported on said base, a crossbar for stopping the vibrations of said tone bars, and means for moving said crossbar to and away from said tone bars, is characterized in that said moving means is provided with three bell cranks pivotally mounted on the middle portion and right and left end portions of said base respectively in a manner to be swingable on a vertical plane parallel to said crossbar, each of said bell cranks having two joint arms, three middle, right and left rods being linearly arranged under said crossbar, each of said middle, right and left rods being pivotally connected with one of the joint arms of each of said bell cranks, two turnbuckles, one of which joins the adjacent .ends of said middle and right rods in a manner to allow the space therebetween to extend and the other of which similarly joins the adjacent ends of said middle and left rods, a vertically extending'rod having its upper end pivotally connected with the remaining arm of said middle bell crank, and a pedal connected with the lower end of said verticallyextending rod, the remaining arms of the right and left bell cranks being pivotally connected with the end portions of said crossbar.

In this arrangement, if said vertically extending rod consists of two linearly arranged rod members and a turnbuckle for joining the adjacent ends of said rod members so as to make the space therebetween extensible, the extent to which the pedal is depressed can be suitably adjusted.

BRIEF EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWING FIG. I is a cross sectional front view of a percussion musical instrument embodying this invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the main said percussion musical instrument; and

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of said musical instrument taken along a line III-III of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION parts of On the crossrails 2b are mounted a plurality of supporting pieces 5 at a specified space. A supporting wire 6 corresponding to each of said crossrails 2b is stretched tight all over the supporting pieces 5 associated with said wire 6.

Said Vibraphone is further provided with a plurality of tone bars 7 respectively having different lengths and apertures 7a penetrating therethrough. Said tone bars 7 floatingly rest on the base 2 with their apertures threaded by said wire 6. The usual resonator for each of the tone bars 7 involving a rotating vane and a motor for driving said vane is omitted from the drawings for the sake of simplicity and clarity.

Said Vibraphone involves a crossbar 8 for damping the vibrations of said tone bars 7, and means for moving said crossbar to and away from said tone bars 7. Said crossbar 8 is positioned between two inside crossrails 2b and supported at the underside of said tone bars 7 by means for urging said crossbar to said tone bars. Said urging means preferably consists of two leaf-spring members 9, the ends on one side of which are attached to transverse beams 10 bridging the end portions of said inside crossrails 2b and the ends on the other side of which are attached to the end portions of said crossbar 8. On the upper surface of said crossbar 8 is attached a member 8a of soft resilient material such as felt, soft foamed synthetic resin and rubber to reduce the reverberation of the tone bars. Said moving means is provided with three bell cranks ll pivotally mounted on the middle portion and right and left end portions of said base 2. Said bell cranks 11 are swingable on a vertical plane parallel to the crossbar 8. Each of said bell cranks 11 has two joint arms Ila and 11b. Three middle, right and left rods 12a, 12b and 12c linearly arranged under said crossbar 8 are involved in said moving means. Each of said rods 12a, 12b and is pivotally connected to the arm 11a of each of said bell cranks ll. Said moving means is further provided with two turnbuckles 13a and 13b, a vertically extending rod 14 having its upper end pivotally connected with the remaining arm 11b of the middle bell crank 11, and a pedal 15 connected with the lower end of said vertically extending rod 14. Said turnbuckle 13a joins the adjacent ends of said middle and right rods 12a and 12b in a manner to allow the space therebetween to extend, and said turnbuckle 13b similarly joins the adjacent ends of said middle and left rods 12:: and 120 The remaining arms 11b of the right and left bell cranks 11 are pivotally connected with lug members 16 protruding downwardly from the bottom of the end portions of said crossbar 8. Thus, when the pedal 15 is not depressed, the member 8a existing on the upper surface of the crossbar 8 is made to contact the lower surfaces of the tone bars 7 with the elastic force of the leaf-spring members 9.

In this embodiment, said vertically extending rod 14 preferably consists of two linearly arranged rod members 14a and 14b, and a turnbuckle for joining the adjacent ends of said rod members in a manner to allow the space therebetween to extend. Furthermore, said pedal 15 preferably involves a pivot pipe 15a extending towards the crooked legs 4 and jouinaled at both ends in pipe bearings 17 facing each other and welded to or formed with the sides of said crooked legs 4.

In operation, when the pedal 15 is depressed by the performers foot, the rod 14 is downwardly pulled, so that the middle rod 12a is displaced in a right-sidewise direction by the medium of the bellcrank 11 positioned at the middle part of the base, and then the crossbar 8 is pulled down by the media of the other rods 12b and 12c and the corresponding bell cranks 11 against the spring actions of the leaf-spring members 9. While the crossbar 8 is released from the tone bars 7, the per-. formance can be continued. If the player desires to stop the vibration of said tone bars or suppress the reverberation of said tone bars temporarily during performance, the depressing force of the foot will be removed from the pedal or suitably reduced so that the member 8a on the upper surface'of the crossbar 8 may be pressed to the undersides of the tone bars 7 by the spring action of leaf-spring members.

If the specified performance requires the vibration of the tone bars associated with the bass tone region to-be stopped more rapidly or more effectively than that of the tone bars associated with the treble tone region, or to suppress the reverberation of said tone bars associated with the bass tone region by the different magnitude of force from that applied to the tone bars associated with the treble tone region, then the levels of both end portions of the crossbar 8 will be adjusted relative to the level of the tone bars by controlling through rotation of the turnbuckles 13a and 13b a space between the middle rod and right rod 12a and 12b, and that between the middle rod and left rod 12a and 12c.

in this embodiment, the turnbuckle 140 may be used to ad just the extent to which the pedal is depressed, by controlling a space between the rod members 14a and 14b through the rotation of said turnbuckle 14c.

lclaim:

l. A percussion musical instrument having a base, a plurality of tone bars supported on said base, a crossbar for stopping the vibrations of said tone bars, and means for moving said crossbar to and away from said tone bars, characterized in that said moving means is provided with three bell cranks pivotally mounted on the middle portion and right and left end portions of said base respectively in a manner to be swingable on a vertical plane parallel to said crossbar, each of said bell cranks having two joint arms, three middle, right and left rods being linearly arranged under said crossbar, each of said middle, right and left rods being pivotallyconnected with one of the joint arms of each of said bell cranks, two turnbuckles, one of which joins the adjacent ends of said middle and right rods in a manner to allow the space therebetween to extend and the other of which similarly joins the adjacent ends of said middle and left rods, a vertically extending rod having its upper'end pivotally connected with the remaining arm of said middle bell crank, and a pedal connected with the lower end of said vertically extending rod, the remaining arms of the right and left bell cranks being pivotally connected with the end portions of said crossbar.

2. A percussion musical instrument claimed in claim 1 in which there is provided means for urging said crossbar to said tone bars.

3. A percussion musical instrument claimed in claim 1 in which said vertically extending rod consists of two rod members and a turnbuckle for joining the adjacent ends of said rod members in a manner to allow the space therebetween to extend.

4. A percussion musical instrument claimed in claim 2 in which said vertically extending rod consists of two rod members and a turnbuckle for joining the adjacent ends of said rod members in a manner to allow the space therebetween to extend. 

1. A percussion musical instrument having a base, a plurality of tone bars supported on said base, a crossbar for stopping the vibrations of said tone bars, and means for moving said crossbar to and away from said tone bars, characterized in that said moving means is provided with three bell cranks pivotally mounted on the middle portion and right and left end portions of said base respectively in a manner to be swingable on a vertical plane parallel to said crossbar, each of said bell cranks having two joint arms, three middle, right and left rods being linearly arranged under said crossbar, each of said middle, right and left rods being pivotally connected with one of the joint arms of each of said bell cranks, two turnbuckles, one of which joins the adjacent ends of said middle and right rods in a manner to allow the space therebetween to extend and the other of which similarly joins the adjacent ends of said middle and left rods, a vertically extending rod having its upper end pivotally connected with the remaining arm of said middle bell crank, and a pedal connected with the lower end of said vertically extending rod, the remaining arms of the right and left bell cranks being pivotally connected with the end portions of said crossbar.
 2. A percussion musical instrument claimed in claim 1 in which there is provided means for urging said crossbar to said tone bars.
 3. A percussion musical instrument claimed in claim 1 in which said vertically extending rod consists of two rod members and a turnbuckle for joining the adjacent ends of said rod members in a manner to allow the space therebetween to extend.
 4. A percussion musical instrument claimed in claim 2 in which said vertically extending rod consists of two rod members and a turnbuckle for joining the adjacent ends of said rod members in a manner to allow the space therebetween to extend. 